Applicants have been issued U.S. Pat. No. 9,322,614, for a front iron sight for a firearm, the front iron sight providing a view of a target therethrough. That patent, with inventors Dwight P. Williams and Kenneth W. Lloyd, is herein and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Applicants have now invented an improved iron sight system including a notched blade rear iron sight with view windows. The rear sight is particularly useful when combined with the above referenced front iron sight on a handgun.
A handgun includes pistols and revolvers. “Blade” is a term used for a type of rear iron sight that presents a leading surface to the shooter comprising a relatively upstanding wall section, the blade mounted to a gun via a base mechanism such as a dovetail which can be integrated into the blade. The “blade” may be relatively thick and rugged and present a corrugated leading surface to improve management of light, definition and contrast. Notches are known to come in a variety of shapes.
An issue with current notched blade rear iron sights for handguns is that the blade structure located to the left of and to the right of the defined notch, which blade structure assists in aligning a front sight in the notch, nonetheless obscures a portion of the target from the view of the shooter. This obscured view could include an important portion of the target area. As illustrated by FIGS. 1-3, a shooter is best appraised of what is going on to the left of and to the right of a target while maintaining a sight of a handgun on the target. At 100 yards a rear blade sight on a handgun often covers up 8-11.6 feet of target area. See FIG. 2. As FIG. 2 indicates it may be important for a shooter, in order to prevent mistakes of commission or omission, to see on each side of a target in order to look for additional threats or out of consideration for the safety of others.
A second issue is securing a clear definition of the notch to the viewer in various ambient light situations. The instant view windows situated in the blade structure to the left and right of the notch can provide that visibility for a handgun, as well as enhance the definition of the notch, without sacrificing other benefits of a blade structure. In addition to increasing target area visibility for a shooter, testing has surprisingly shown that view windows to the left and to the right of a notch in a blade of a rear handgun iron sight assist in, and speed, a centering of a front sight within the notch. Testing shows that properly designed rear iron sight view windows provide for a quicker response on a target. See FIG. 4. And, the view windows further aid in range finding. See FIGS. 6D and 6E.
Applicant's preferred embodiments feature horizontal view windows, view windows extending predominantly laterally on each side of a notch. Such have been shown to enhance notch definition and assist quick accurate alignment with a front iron sight. Differently shaped view windows could be used. See FIG. 5.
A rear iron sight with a small notch and large flared windows to the left, right and downward of the notch has been known for rifles. (See material presented in information disclosure document.) No similar iron sight is known by the instant inventors to be provided for handguns. In contrast, applicant's notched blade rear iron sight provides view windows located predominantly in blade structure to the left and to the right of the defined notch, and preferably provides a view window area of a size between two to five times that of a notch view area. The leading side of applicant's blade preferably provides a top portion defining a straight sightline across, and to the left and to the right of, the notch, for more accurate alignment of the notch with a handgun front sight. Applicant's rear iron sight also preferably provides view windows that occupy only between 40% and 80% of the leading side blade structure to the left and to the right of the notch, thereby providing sufficient remaining blade structure to assist in accurately aligning a notch with a front sight. Further, the view windows of applicant's rear iron sight preferably provide a horizontal viewing dimension greater than a vertical viewing dimension through the blade structure.
Preferably also, to maximize target area viewing and definition of a front sight in a rear notch, the rear iron sight is combined with a front sight that is also structured to provide a view of a target therethrough. Proper sight alignment has been shown to be enhanced by aligning a front sight view window with horizontally aligned left and right blade view windows.